Tobacco guiding machine



K. A. KURBER TOBACCO GUIDING MACHINE Feb. 15, 1944.

ori inal Filed 001;. 11. 1938 \m xv HDOLF' K m Patented Feb. 15, 1944 TOBACCO GUIDING MACHINE Kurt Adolf Kiirber, Dresden-Oberloschwitz, Germany; vested in the Alien, Property Custodian Original application October 11, 1938, Serial No. 234,477. Divided and this application February 21, 1940, Serial No. 319,989. In Germany October 18, 1937 1 Claim.

This invention relates to tobacco guiding machines, in which generally a tobacco conduit, which is shallow, supplies its tobacco to a conveying means.

This application is a division of U. S. application Serial No. 234,477 of October 11, 1938, now Patent No. 2,238,979, issued April 22, 1941.

The invention consists in the provision of tobacco resisting means at the end of the path of the conveying means, so that as the tobacco is fed by the conveying means to a table, for example, the table surface provides a resistance to the movement of the oncoming tobacco, so that the tobacco on the table is pressed together to facilitate cutting thereof. Additional means on the table to further resist the movement of the tobacco also form part of the invention. The speed of the conveying means is coordinated to a to and fro movement openable and pivoted Wall of the conduit. The tobacco formed on the conveying means is of substantially equal density and uniformity of distribution, which is one of the main objectives of this invention.

By the co-relationship of means to bring about such uniformity, the out 01f portions of such a tobacco flow are also uniform.

The various parts are so coordinated in action and relative speed, that from the beginning of the operation, the tobacco is treated so as to be free from lumps, which enables it to be uniformly distributed and shaped into a substantially equally dense mass, so that the various out off portions are of assured density and eflicient distribution.

The invention will be further described in connection with the embodiments shown in the drawing, and will be, finally, claimed.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure l is a longitudinal elevational view, partly in section, of the improved machine embodying the invention; and

Figure 2 shows a detail view of an embodiment of the invention.

Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the various views.

Referring to Figure I, the tobacco T is contained in a tobacco spreader I, in which a known tobacco spike roller 2 is arranged which rotates in the direction of the arrow 2a there shown. The roller 2 takes along during its rotation, tobacco from the spreader I, in a manner to form a tobacco fleece or vlies upon the roller 2. This fleece or vlies is removed from the roller 2 by take-off member 3, which forms the front boundary wall of the tobacco space of the tobacco spreader. This wall 3 for stroking off the tobacco from the roller 2, is supported by a double armed lever 4 which is in turn supported by the shaft 5 of the roller 2. The lower free end of the lever 4 is pivoted to a lever arm 6 which acts as a crank rod, and which is actuated by the crank disc I, rotating on the shaft la. The free end of the arm 6 is pivoted at 60. to the crank disc I eccentrically of the center shaft la. Known mechanism to rotate the roller 2, are utilized to rotate the same, but these are not shown in the drawing, as being within the skill of a mechanic.

Measured in respect to the speed of rotation of the roller 2, the speed of tobacco removing wall 3 with its wiping edge is such that the edge moves with relatively high speed concentri to the roller 2. By this coaction and the relative speeds, a very fine smoothing of the tobacco takes place on the roller 2, without balling of the tobacco in the angle a: formed by the wall 3 and roller 2, which has been found to take place when a roller instead of such a wall with impinging edge is used.

This action of the wall 3 devised to obtain a most efficient fleece or vlies 0n the roller 2, now

is followed by the action of a spiked roller 8 upon the fleece or vlies on the roller 2. The roller 8 rotates in the direction of the arrow 8a and in a direction opposite to that of the roller 2. The roller 8 is rotated by means of known operating mechanism, connected like roller 2, and disc I, to the main drive.

The tobacco leaving rollers 2 and 8, drops by gravity into a substantially vertical conduit 9., and after passing therethrough it falls upon the endless conveyor band I 0, which moves in the direction of the arrow Illa, and guides the tobacco flow towards the knife 20.

The conduit 9 is made, in the form of a struc ture which has a stationary front wall I5, extending substantially perpendicularly from the tobacco container in which the roller 8 is located, and the wall I5 has its lower extremity near to the belt l0, and separated therefrom about the height of the tobacco flow on the belt IE5. To the stationary wall l5 are applied lateral walls extending rearwardly from the front wall l5, so as to form the side walls of the conduit. Within the side walls an spaced from the front wall i5, is a rear wall I I, pivoted at l2 to the lowermost part of the wall of the tobacco spreader. The rear wall thus pivoted at I2 is swingably supported, and in order to swing it to and fro, the rear of the rear wall is provided with a bracket Ila, supporting a pin or shaft upon which one end of a crank arm i3 is pivoted. The other end of the arm i3 is eccentrically disposed to the crank disc I 4, and pivoted at 30 thereto, the disc 54 being rotated on the shaft Ma. A chain Mb passes over the sprocket i lc on? the shaft I la, and over the sprocket 112. By the to and fro movement of the arm 53, the rear wall I! is swung from full line position to dotted line position and back. The lower end of the rear wall extends to the upper conveying surface of the belt H], so as to substantially contact therewith, and so that any tobacco on the upper surface of the belt is pushed along by the rear wall H forwardly and through the space between the lowermost edge of the wall It: and the belt It.

This improved conduit formed by the front wall 15 and swingable rear wall H, has the advantage that with every rearward movement of the wall an airing of the tobacco within the conduit takes place. By this, the descent of the tobacco is facilitated and made easy. Thereby, a slight accumulation of the tobacco takes place at the lower end of the conduit near the belt, and this is then compressed by the return swinging movement of rear wall H, by pressing the enclosed tobacco against the front wall l5. At the same time, the relatively compressed tobacco which has descended to the belt during the rearward swinging movement of the rear wall H, is pressed by the end of the rear wall it which protrudes beyond the lowermost end of the front wall I5, along the belt and in the forward direction of the arrow Illa, during the forward movement of the belt. The tobacco in this dense condition is then moved forward by the belt, The velocity of movement of the belt is regulated to the quantity of tobacco being aired, pressed and pushed through and from the conduit. The simultaneous co-action of belt I!) and presser H is such that the flow of tobacco on the belt has and maintains a certain definite and predetermined density.

In front of the front end of the belt it, which passes over rolls I6 and N, there is arranged a table portion H3 in advance of the roll it, which receives the tobacco flow from the upper surface of the belt. As the moving tobacco now encounters a stationary surface on the stationary table surface It the tobacco is made more dense. The tobacco fed by the belt pushes against this resisting tobacco on the table 8. This frictional resistance can be augmented by roughing the table surface, and can, in consequence, be regulated. Upon the uppermost surface of the angular member 99a, Fig. 2, there i shown a series of projections 580 which act to resist the flow of tobacco. These may be knurls or similar small projections of peaks and valleys or the like so arranged as to impede the passage of the object passing over the same. Preferably, the free forward end of the table I8 has adjacent thereto an angular member i912, the free end of which, in turn, is shaped to act as a cutting edge we, to cooperate with a knife edge at. The length of the knife edge |9a of the angular member and knife 20 is equal to the width of the table 18. The knife 20 is a blade knife and is supported by an arm 2! at both of its ends, a pivotal roller shaft 22 enabling the arms 2| to be supported. The knife 2|] thereby partakes of a movement as shown in dot-dash lines of Fig. during which it contacts with the edge Ida, and cuts off the portion of the tobacco flow to the extent that it projects beyond the table l8 and edge l9a.

Adjacent the edge |9a of the table I8 there is a supporting surface 3 I, this surface 3| being disposed in relation to the knife edge [9a of the angular member |9b in such a manner that the uppermost surface of the member 3| is below the uppermost surface of the angular member I912 so as to permit the knife 2|] on its descent to cut off the tobacco and descend adjacent to the knife edge |9a to a position where the cutting ed e of the knife is below the uppermost surface of the angular member l9b. The supporting surface 3| is peripherally part of a. roller 3|a which is fastened to a supporting shaft 24, which is freely rotatable. This surface is in the embodiment shown in Figure 1 held fast by spring projections 3|b. When, however, the knife in its orbit, shown in dot-dash lines in Fig. 2 and indicated by the arrows M, 15, 16 and TI, moves downwardly adjacent the cutting edge |9a of the table I3, and by this cutting action has separated the cut-off tobacco portion, the knife carries along the cut-off tobacco in the supporting surface 3| of the roller 3|a, whereby the supporting shaft 24 turns around its axis. In consequence, the tobacco portion so cut off resting on the sup: porting surface, and after reaching a certain inclined position, is guided off from and by the supporting surface, and reaches the hopper 25. From this it passes out of the discharge opening 26 into the collecting container 21 which takes each tobacco portion and moves it along to the next point of manipulation.

The shaft 22 is journalled in journal bearings. The knife 20 is supported by two parallel and like members 2|, only one of which is shown in Fig. 1.

To give the knife 20 the movement as described, a guide member 60 having guide rails 6| and 62 is supported by the frame, and thes guide rails guide a guide 63, upon which the shaft 22 is supported, which is moved to and fro as shown by the double-headed arrow 70. On the guide 63 is a pin 64, which is engaged by a fork 65 on an arm 66, which is moved by the guide 63 to and fro as shown by the double-headed arrow 61 whereby the knife 20 is moved from full line to dotted line position. On the arm 2|, a pin 1| is supported, upon which the member 12 is connected and this member 12 is moved up and down as shown by the double-headed arrow, by mechanism not shown, to control the height of movement of the knife.

In Fig. 2 is shown a detail side View in which the belt I0, moving in th direction of the arrow Illa, passes over the pulley It. The table l8 has at one side thereof a supporting surface I91) and a knife edge cutting member |9a. The roller 3| moves in the direction of the arrow 3| a, rotating upon the shaft 24. The knife holder 30 in Fig. 2 is operated in the same manner as the knife holder 20 in Fig. 1, with the knife itself indicated by 280. shown in a position ready to descend against the material to be cut in the direction of the arrow 14. When the knife 20a has so descended and cut the material, it moves in an arcuate path in the direction of the arrow 15 and thereby pushes the cut-off tobacco along the roller 3|, the rotation of the roller assisting in this movement of the tobacco. When this arcuate path has been completed, the knife is raised and moved in the direction of the arrow 15 up to the limit of its movement and then given an arcuate return path movement in the direction of the arrow 11 to the place of its beginning.

The knife 20 is so governed that it first partake of a vertical movement and thereby sep-. arates the tobacco portion which has reached the supporting surface. In immediate action therewith the knife makes a movement of such a kind that its cutting edge descending on the periphery of the roller 3|, moves concentrically with the roller 3|, and thereby remains in contact with the roller surface. This movement takes place in the conveying direction of the tobacco layer, as indicated by the arrow 3la, so that the knife serves as a wiper, and wipes the separated tobacco portion from the roller towards the left, as shown in Fig. 1. At the end of the wiping movement, the knife finds itself with its carrier 2| in the positionindicated in dotted lines. Now the knife with its carrier goes upwardly and so far that it is removed from the path of the freshly arrived tobacco on the roller. Then the knife goes to the right, back to the cutting position and the cycle begins anew.

Actuating devices of known kind are shown in Figure 1. The shaft I4a supports a sprocket wheel 40, over which a chain 4| passes, which passes over a sprocket 42, on th main driving shaft 43, having a pulley wheel 44. The shaft 43 has a worm 45, engaging a gear 43a on a shaft 41 supported in bearings 48. On the shaft 41 is a bevel gear 49 engaging a conical gear 50 on a vertical shaft held by bearings'52. To the shaft 5| a bevel 53 engages a bevel gear 54 on a shaft 55 which carries the drive pulley ll of the belt l0, which passes also over the end pulley l6.

A companion divisional application was filed on February 21, 1940, under Serial Number 319,- 990 and issued September 29, 1942, as Patent No. 2,297,419.

It is obvious that various changes and modifications may be made in the details of construction and design of the above specifically described embodiments of this invention without departing from the spirit thereof, such changes and modifications being restricted only by the scope of the following claim.

What is claimed is:

In a tobacco guiding device, the combination of a horizontal conveyor belt carrying the tobacco in one direction and discharging it at substantially belt velocity at one end thereof, a table adjacent the end of the belt and horizontally level therewith for receiving the tobacco discharged from the belt, the surface of the table being horizontally aligned with the upper surface of the belt and acting as a continuation of said surface of the belt, means at the free end edge of the surface of the table consisting of a tobacco frictionally engaging roughening on said surface causing a resistance to the movement of the tobacco thereon for damming the tobacco on the roughened table, axially rearwardly against the direction of movement of the tobacco by the conveyor belt, the remaining part of the table being free from roughening, whereby the tobacco fed by the belt to the table is compressed by the resistance offered to the tobacco on the table so it may be longitudinally compressed in respect to the looser tobacco fed to the belt end of the table, a knife vertically movable along the roughened end edge of the table for cutting the so compressed tobacco, and a roller having its uppermost surface disposed below the surface of the table to enable the knife during its cutting action to move along the end edge of the table, the roller moving the compressed end of the tobacco before being out off in position for the knife action, and moving the cut-off tobacco away from the end edge of the table.

KURT ADOLF KibRBER. 

